Textile Art Experiments - Using Resin

Sep 11

Written By Agy Lee

I’m always asking questions on how to improve my work. One thing that popped up was the archival properties of Bleached at the Hues of Loss Exhibition. In the 2m wall mural, I had used paper and calico as the base of the coral reef structure. The paper was very delicate and had an ethereal look to it, while the calico was used to mute the LED lights coming from below the base.

One of the ways I would like to solve this is to use epoxy resin. I haven’t used this material before, and was introduced to it by fellow artist, Teo Huey Ling, who made an amazing series of epoxy resin flowers. There were a few questions that popped in my mind, such as:

Can I put epoxy resin on paper in the first place?
Do I need to treat or seal the paper before adding epoxy resin?

There are a lot of resin and paper tutorials on Youtube, mostly explaining how to treat the paper for resin jewellery. I was rather overwhelmed with the information, but it gave me an idea of what to do with the paper I was using.

Preparing the Paper for Epoxy Resin

Safety precautions when using epoxy resin

I’m not an expert when it comes to using epoxy resin. However, it is important to note that safety does come first as the constituent chemicals of the parts of the resin and hardener that need to be mixed up for the reaction are known irritants and are harmful.

Work in a well ventilated area away from family and pets, and use a respirator. I had two fans operating too, and opened the windows during both the application and curing process.
Wear an apron and nitrile gloves (these are resistant to chemicals). Dispose of gloves immediately after each project.
Use a separate set of measuring cylinders, weighing scales and tools specifically for resin projects.
Store chemicals in a separate location and label clearly.

using Modge Podge

One of the techniques described was brushing modge podge or white glue over the paper as a form. This was difficult as I had trouble with taking the paper off my work top. It would tear and that got me thinking it would be a bad idea to use this technique especially if I was going to be working on larger pieces. I found that this only works for pieces of paper that are smaller than A6 although maybe it’s my technique!